With Injustice 2 released and in full swing, the game will be seeing its first major tournament action at Combo Breaker this weekend in Chicago. Being that the city is the home base for NetherRealm Studios, Ed Boon had promised a big announcement to close out the weekend on Twitter. Though we saw the first in-game screenshot of DLC character Red Hood earlier this week, we now know that his official gameplay trailer will be revealed on Sunday night!
You can see the Tweet below, which includes another screenshot of Jason Todd shooting Damien Wayne–clad in his Nightwing Gear–in the back with a flipping pistol shot.
Perhaps we’ll get a release date for Hood as well? Only time will tell. Red Hood will be included in “DLC Fighter Pack 1,” alongside Sub-Zero and Starfire.
Injustice 2 is available now for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
The long-promised Skullgirls mobile game from Lab Zero Games and LINE Corporation arrived in the iOS App Store and Android’s Google Play store last night, as marked by Mike Zaimont’s victorious tweet:
SKULLGIRLS MOBILE IS FINALLY OUT for iOS and Android!
Every Friday, Brazil’s best Street Fighters will clash–in the Liga Brasileira!
Street Fighter V fans will want to keep an eye on the Liga Brasileira, where some of the best players in Brazil–and the world–are now competing weekly. Regulars include Innova|Keoma, F3|Brolynho, Dark, and PauloWeb! The Street Fighter V Brazilian League broadcasts their matches every Friday at 4:00 PM PDT (8:00 PM GMT -3) on Promo Arena’s Twitch channel.
The league is a couple of weeks in already; you can check out prior matches on YouTube via Promo Arena TV. Here’s the first!
It seems that Nintendo’s Switch is quickly finding itself to be a place for playing classic fighting games on the go. Hot on the heels of Garou: Mark of the Wolves, SNK has released another fighter as part of the ACA NEO GEO collection: The King of Fighters ’99.
The King of Fighters ’99 marks the start of the series’ “NESTS Chronicles” story arc, which saw the introduction of a new protagonist, the “dark hero” K’. Gameplay-wise, KOF99 saw the introduction of the “Striker Match” system. This had players pick a fourth team member as a “Striker” who could be called in a to assist their teammate a limited number of times in a match.
While the “Striker Match” would only last for three games, and was never a part of the series’ most competitively-respected installments, it’s still an interesting system to see in action, especially here in the most untested form of its debut game. Additionally, the requirement for a fourth team member also meant that many characters who are now KOF staples (such as Whip, and Baoe) made their debut in this game as well.
The King of Fighters ’99 is currently available for $7.99 as part of the ACA NEO GEO collection on the Nintendo eShop.
With any fighting game based on a popular universe of characters, there’s always characters that are going to be left out of the game. Such is the case of Injustice 2, where a number of popular DC comics characters sadly did not make the cut.
Now, we get a glimpse of one of these characters, thanks to an Instagram post by artist Marco Nelor. Nelor, who’s worked as a character designer for NetherRealm Studios’ fighting games, recently shared concept art of Static–as he would have appeared in Injustice 2.
Static was originally part of the creator-run Milestone Comics (a company founded by African-American comic book writers and artists), published by DC. Static has become a popular character for DC, thanks in part to the Static Shock animated series that later on became part of the original DC Animated Universe from the late ’90s.
With his popularity, combined with the fresh-looking redesign seen here, this incarnation of Static is one that fans may wish had actually made it into the game. That said, with at least a dozen more DLC characters that have yet to be revealed, Static may yet have his day in the Injustice 2 limelight.
Having a PC version of Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- has done more for the community than Arc System Works may have predicted. This wasn’t just a port that made the game available on the “Master Race” platform, enabling another profit funnel for the game company (though that certainly doesn’t hurt). When Network Mode turned out to be much smoother and generally more reliable than its PlayStation Network counterpart, a lot of the community turned to Steam’s platform to deliver less laggy and more precise matches at long distances.
As this newfound connectivity found enthusiasm from the community, ideas arose to do more work to feature talented Guilty Gear players in special exhibitions. Originally, Midwest’s Sym, one of the best Millia players in the country, came up with the idea to assemble a league that would showcase such matches with commentary.
“The series was obviously inspired by the FT10s on Jonio’s stream, and the timing feels perfect now that the Steam player base has grown significantly,” he told SRK when the league was announced.
The Slash Series from Mikado was sort of the blueprint for the Super Steam Xrd Exhibition League. Starting in February 2017, new FT7 exhibition matches were scheduled on a consistent weekly basis. They always featured two sets. First, the audience warmed up by watching two (usually) somewhat less-known players. Highlighting talent that’s not as famous was one of the central ideas behind the League. After that, two better-known fighters would face off in the online sets.
Silva, who oversaw most of the league and would later stream it on her own Twitch channel, sees the SSXrdEL as something that fills a gap in the community.
“I feel that the community needs something like this,” Silva told SRK. “Tournament streams are great, but aside from that, the only other thing to watch for Guilty Gear would be training mode or random netplay streams, most of the time. Regularly streamed sets are something that I know I enjoy watching myself.”
“So after AA Grand Finals, KV and I didn’t get to play more casuals in person,” daymendou said. The match was scheduled to be almost a month after AA I think, so I wanted to see how KV would adjust in the matchup. I think our match set a good tone for the league because the matches before ours were pretty one-sided.”
Some players have a certain quality to really rock an exhibition, and having matches that aren’t one-sided is a desired facet. According to Silva, matching players from different regions but with similar skill levels is essential to having an entertaining match.
“No one wants to watch a 0-7, and no one wants to watch a match they could find on YouTube a dozen times. Also, bad match-ups are generally a thing to stay away from, but they can sometimes work out. I feel that attitudes rarely matter in this setting. What matters most is that the players try their best. Still, even though it’s Steam, this is netplay, so it’s important to be mindful of that and not take it as seriously as an offline match,” she said.
Speaking of Steam netplay, there was one player who got on the PC bandwagon pretty late. doren2k, a top Jam player, initially stuck with the PlayStation version. However, when the competitive community at large played on Steam, he eventually purchased a PC.
“At first, I didn’t believe the PC hype, but as more players started converting from PSN to Steam, I decided to give in and try it out. And honestly, netplaying on Steam is 100,000 times better than PSN. PSN is good if you have no other option, but if you can get a PC and play REV on Steam, netplay is way smoother and an overall better experience.”
Silva pointed out that the TSB|mynus vs. doren2k match was one of her favorites, because a lot of the rounds were pixel-health close. Additionally, every match features different commentators, some of which participated in the exhibitions themselves. Sway, who also plays Jam, commentated their match, as well as played in a later match-up.
“They’re both explosive by nature, and you can tell by watching them play just how much experience they both have as players,” Sway told SRK. “It’s hard to hold in my excitement while playing. I remember it ending at 7-6 with mynus winning but no one was disappointed on either end.”
As for what commentary brings to matches like these, Sway, who has experience in the trade, said: “Personally there are times a match can hold its own weight without commentary, but really good commentary can make the experience 100x better. I think of it as something that fills the gaps. So like: backstory, game and character knowledge, etc. Good commentary will immerse you into the match and make you care about the players and the game more than you would if you just watched it on its own.”
Other than that, another notable episode was the European special. While most the League focuses on North America, this feature took it to Europe and highlighted Guilty Gear talent from a different corner of the world. Representatives from Finland, Austria, Russia, and the Czech Republic showed off their talents with Axl, Potemkin, Faust, and Johnny.
“I definitely plan to give more international players a chance to play exhibitions in REV 2, if there is time,” Silva said.
Silva summed up this season’s stats pretty well in one tweet:
random Super Steam Xrd Exhibition League stats -3 months -28 commentators -56 players -27 unique MUs -about 27k YT views idk twitch views
Watch this special highlight reel below–premiering along with this article–showing some of the coolest moments from across all of the SSXrdEL matches!
Now that -REVELATOR- is out of the picture and we can slowly turn to Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2, SSXrdEL is getting a makeover. The netplay exhibition will return this June under a new name, and zenzen, who participated in one of the exhibitions, will step up to help organize it.
“It might not be possible to keep it a weekly series forever. This summer, I’ll stream every week, but after that, it might have to be biweekly, since it’s a lot of work,” Silva said. “As for the matches themselves, I think more variety with the format would be good. Secret boss players or bonus third matches would be great. Also, because the name doesn’t limit it to Steam this time, maybe a PSN episode will happen at some point. Aside from that, expect a mix of returning faces from ‘Season 1’ as well as yet-to-be-featured players.”
Stay tuned to SRK as always, as we approach Tension Pulse!
SSXrdEL will return in Rev 2 under a new name- Tension Pulse! @shoujozenzen will be helping me organize exhibitions every week, starting 6/1 pic.twitter.com/hZZXThUEP1
Check out the convention to see Tekken 7 in action (and try it out) at the Wizard World Gaming Stage!
Tekken 7 arrives on console and PC on June 2, 2017! To celebrate the long-awaited home release of this new entry in the Tekken saga, Wizard World Gaming will host a launch event at the Wizard World Comic Con, at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, June 1-4. A Tekken 7 event will be open to convention ticket holders to enter at the Wizard World Gaming Stage. $5000 is cash prizes is available for fighters to take home; in addition to that, attendees can win copies of Tekken 7 for Xbox One and PlayStation 4, including the Tekken 7 Collectors Edition–as well as a GAEMS Vanguard Personal Gaming Environment, and Qanba fight sticks from eightarc, via a raffle.
Attendees can also try out Tekken 7 at stations surrounding the main Wizard World Gaming Stage throughout the weekend–or participate in a Tekken-themed costume contest, with a Collector’s Edition of Tekken 7 for the winner. The event will be broadcast live on Twitch; viewers can enter to win one of ten copies of Tekken 7 for Xbox One.
There also will be a Super Smash Bros. for Wii U event, with $2000 up for grabs. You can register and find more information at www.wizardworldgaming.com!
Is it the definitive version of Street Fighter II? Nintendo Switch owners can now find out for themselves!
Featuring updated HD visuals (that can be swapped back to the original art), a new soundtrack, an art gallery, two-player Buddy Battle, motion-controlled Way of the Hado mode, a myriad of balance changes, and new fighters Evil Ryu and Violent Ken, Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers is poised to be the ultimate form of the Street Fighter II series. And: it’s available today, for the Nintendo Switch platform!
Check out the new “Battle Tactics” trailer to quickly familiarize yourself with the changes:
Does it live up to the Street Fighter II legacy? Time to find out.
GTA Online will be getting what Rockstar Games is calling a “massive” update in July. Called “Gunrunning”, players will find that the Southern San Andreas weapons trafficking industry rising. There will be a new, very lucrative underground network ripe for the taking by VIPs, CEOs and Biker bosses from Blaine County and Los Santos.
EGLS is nearing the time when Armed Heroes 2 will be released. AH2 is a fully-featured mobile MMORPG. To prepare players for release day, the team sent along a list of some of the game’s main features including information about the story, classes, character creation and game play.
